Civil Society, Politics, and Religion in Turkey
James A. Piazza
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
I was fortunate to receive a Ping Fellowship which allowed me to participate in the 2006 Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) International Faculty Development Seminar in Turkey which was held in Ankara, Konya and Istanbul from May 30 to June 10. The program was hosted by the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara and was also funded partially by the UNCC College of Arts and Sciences. This brief statement summarizes my experience and the professional benefits I obtained and the institutional benefits UNCC obtained through it.
Program
CIEE plans and coordinates faculty development seminars every summer in 25 to 30 countries. My development seminar involved a 12-day stay that featured lectures by METU faculty, lectures and meetings with civil society actors and heads of nongovernmental organizations in Turkey, site visits, cultural events and meetings with governmental officials. Ten faculty from a wide array of institutions and representing a wide array of disciplines participated in the program.
Overall, I would rate the experience as exceptional and would recommend it without reservation to any other faculty member. My participation in the seminar yielded many professional and institutional benefits which are summarized below:
Course and Program Development. The information and perspective I gained will enhance my course offerings and this will have positive repercussions for both the Political Science program and the newly established Islamic Studies minor. I am much better positioned to redesign existing classes that I teach and develop new courses I plan to teach. Throughout the seminar I gathered information and thought more about how I will design two courses that I plan to teach in the coming semesters: one on EU relations with the Islamic World and another on US foreign policy towards the Middle East.
Research. My research agenda has been strengthened as well. My visit to Turkey has sparked a new research idea that I plan to begin work on this fall and I made some valuable contacts among faculty at METU, Ankara University and Yeditepe University in Istanbul. The Turkish faculty I met are very keen to collaborate with me and we have discussed the possibility of co-authorship. I may try to return to Turkey in the next few years for field work and now have the contacts and basic information to apply for external funding to do so.
Undergraduate Study Abroad. As I suspected, Turkey is an ideal site for study abroad for UNCC students. I would not hesitate to recommend Turkey to any student who was interested in study abroad and now feel well positioned to offer concrete advice about how to do a study abroad program there. Additionally I have talked with Katherine Bourgeois-Asan of CIEE-Ankara, who coordinated the IFDS seminar, about the established program that she runs for undergraduate students. I would be very interested to help recruit some of our students to participate in the CIEE program at METU where they can study in residence in Ankara, travel throughout the country and learn Turkish.
Faculty and Student Exchange. I also had the opportunity to meet Turkish faculty and graduate students who could be potential resources to UNC Charlotte as visiting teachers and scholars. One of the coordinators of the seminar, Ozgur Sari, is an appointed lecturer at METU who is finishing Ph.D.s in Sociology and Political Science. He has been funded by the Turkish Ministry of Education to teach and conduct research for one year at a foreign institution – his salary would be paid by his home government – and this is a fairly common practice in Turkey. It occurred to me that UNC Charlotte would benefit from hosting a Turkish scholar for a semester or a year who could offer coursework to our students and could collaborate on research. I would be happy to help coordinate this sort of project.
To summarize, the seminar exceeded my expectations. It was well planned and professionally executed. It offered a unique glimpse into modern Turkey because it allowed visitors to see things and talk to people that would otherwise be impossible to experience. I do not know if the Turkey program is unique in its quality among CIEE seminars, but if it is the norm then I would not hesitate to recommend any other site visit to other interested faculty. I would also not hesitate to participate in another CIEE seminar in another country.
I extend my gratitude to Katherine Bougeois-Asan and Beth Rascoe of CIEE, the Ping Fellowship committee, Joel Gallegos and Mary Zink of the Office of International Programs at UNCC and to Dean Nancy Gutierrez for their financial and administrative support.